


Rainstorm

by didhejusthissatme



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Friendship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Panic Attacks, Percy Jackson is a Good Friend, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:14:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24447901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/didhejusthissatme/pseuds/didhejusthissatme
Summary: After a change at Camp Halfblood, Nico is thrown off guard and spirals. Luckily, Percy is a good friend.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo & Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 12
Kudos: 128





	Rainstorm

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warnings: Graphic Descriptions of Panic Attacks and PTSD

Nico scrubbed his hands up and down his face, letting out a frustrated sigh that sounded more like a strangled whimper than he had intended. Every breath snagged in his lungs as he tried to calm his racing thoughts, and convince himself he wasn't suffocating. 

He drew his knees as close as he could to his chest from where he sat on his bed. His fingernails dug into his knees but he barely felt it. Nico's mind wasn't in the present anymore, he was in Tartarus. 

In the jar. 

There was a reason the Hades cabin didn't have any curtains. That the door was always unlocked, ready to be opened. A reason that the windows were always flung wide open. Nico didn't like to feel trapped. 

This night was different. The Demeter kids had been complaining about the lack of natural watering for their plants, so Chiron has scheduled a rainstorm, at night when it wouldn't bother anyone. 

Nico had closed his windows in preparation without a second thought. It was still light out when he fell asleep. But when he woke up in the dark, all the windows shut--that had really thrown him. 

Nico wasn't sure how long he sat like that, trying to remember what it felt like to breathe as his heart hammered in his chest like the incessant pattering of the rain on the roof. Nico knew one thing: he needed out. 

He stumbled blindly and threw the door open. He stepped outside, sucking in gulps of fresh air until he coughed and sputtered. He realized he wasn't wearing shoes, and he shivered in the now soaking t-shirt and flannel pants he used as pajamas. If he was in a better mindset, the son of Hades might have laughed, but instead he just sought shelter and slumped to the ground against a tree. He put his head in his hands and sobbed. It seemed like all he was able to do. 

"Nico?" 

Nico recognized that voice. /i Percy i\

"Are you OK?" 

Nico sighed. "I just need a minute." 

He heard Percy sit down in the mud next to him. Nico lifted his head to peer at the other demigod, rubbing the tears out of his eyes. It didn't help much, considering the steady trickle of the rain onto his face from where it dripped of his hair. 

Percy seemed to notice this too, and he created a protective bubble of air around the them both. The rain poured down around them, but the demigods were dry. 

Nico thought about how intimate this would have seemed to him a year ago. Just the two of them, in their own little world. But nowadays Nico had a hard time thinking of Percy as more than a friend. 

"So... if you don't mind me asking, why are you crying in the rain?" 

"What are you doing in the rain?" Nico snapped back, maybe a little too defensively. Nico hated being caught crying. 

Percy shrugged. "I couldn't sleep. I heard you crying and wanted to see you were alright."

"Well, I am. Alright." Nico gestured vaguely as if to get his point across. "I just, I felt trapped in my cabin. It felt like Tartarus."

Nico sniffed loudly and wiped his nose. So much for his reputation. 

"Do you ever go back there?" he questioned, looking Percy square in the face for the first time during there conversation. 

Percy stiffened at the mention of Tarturus, but he still answered. 

"All the time."

The two sat in comfortable for a little while. Nico felt himself calming down, his thoughts stopped racing in a panic and it started to dawn on him just how tired he was. 

"Do you need anything from me?" Percy questioned. "I could take you to the infirmary if you need it. You might see Will there," Percy said the last part with a mischievous wiggling of his eyebrows. He looked ridiculous. 

"No! I-I don't want to see Will. Not like this."

Nico just hoped Percy couldn't see the way the smaller boy blushed at the mention of Will. 

"Also, I never knew you were such a mom friend Percy. I can take care of myself." 

Percy snorted. 

"It's just, I know how you feel-" 

"I'm gonna cut you off here before this becomes embarrassing for both of us," Nico said, standing up and wiping some of the mud of his pants. "I'm gonna go to bed before I fall asleep during your sappy speech.

"And thank you, Percy," he added, "for being a friend."

**Author's Note:**

> This is kinda my first real fanfic, so any comments or kudos would make me beyond happy. Like you don't even know. This isn't really my best work and I wrote it in the middle of the night and published without editing, so I don't really know what to say. You can reach me at @rivers-writing-sideblog at Tumblr. Thanks :))


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